Check Point Sees AI Security Spending Surge as 2027 Growth Setup Takes Shape

Key Points

• AI cybersecurity spending could accelerate in 2027 as customers shift from experimental AI budgets to dedicated funding. Check Point expects rising AI-driven network traffic and demand for protections such as its AI Network Firewall.
• Check Point’s go-to-market transition disrupted second-quarter execution, but management expects improvement in the second half. The company views the third quarter as a trough and says its fourth-quarter pipeline is particularly strong, while planning to add roughly 150 net employees by year-end.
• The company is expanding its platform strategy through products such as CTEM, SASE and AI security offerings, while keeping larger acquisitions under consideration. Management said M&A is not required to achieve double-digit growth but could accelerate progress.

Check Point Software Technologies NASDAQ: CHKP sees 2027 as a potentially significant year for artificial intelligence-related cybersecurity spending as customers move from experimentation toward more deliberate budgeting, according to Global Head of Investor Relations Kip Meintzer.

Speaking at an investor event, Meintzer said organizations had redirected spending from other budget areas to fund AI initiatives during the current year. However, as companies prepare annual operating plans for next year, he expects more dedicated AI spending, including investments in AI security.

“Without security, you’re in a little heap of trouble,” Meintzer said, adding that companies and AI model developers have increasingly recognized the risks associated with deploying AI without adequate protections.

Go-to-Market Changes and Second-Half Outlook

Meintzer said Check Point’s second-quarter execution during its go-to-market transition “could’ve been better,” though he said the company now has a better handle on the third and fourth quarters. He pointed to the company’s guidance and pipeline indicators as evidence that conditions are moving in the right direction.

The go-to-market changes are designed to focus more resources on larger customers and new-logo opportunities. Existing large accounts are receiving more dedicated account-manager coverage, while sales “hunters” pursuing new logos are being given multiyear contracts rather than being measured solely on a one-year timetable.

Meintzer said the longer sales time frame is intended to allow representatives to build relationships and pursue larger enterprise opportunities without being rushed. He said the organizational changes, including new sales overlays, staffing adjustments and continued hiring, contributed to disruption during the transition.

Check Point has said it expects to hire an additional 300 employees by year-end, representing a net increase of about 150 employees after other workforce changes. Meintzer said the company expects to enter 2027 “on the ground and running.”

For the third quarter, Meintzer said Check Point views the period as a trough largely because of difficult comparisons, particularly around billings. He said the company has informed investors that a couple of large third-quarter deals could be pushed out. Still, he described the fourth-quarter pipeline as looking like “a complete home run,” supported by sales teams that have now spent roughly two quarters working with their assigned accounts.

AI Network Firewall and Growing Traffic

Meintzer said broader AI adoption should drive higher network traffic and increase the need for security. He highlighted Check Point’s AI Network Firewall, which is available now and can be deployed through a software upgrade and subscription for customers using compatible existing hardware. Customers must be on the latest software revision to add the subscription, or they can purchase a new system with the capabilities included.

The subscription for the AI Network Firewall will carry a higher price than previous subscriptions, he said. Meintzer said it was too early to determine whether the offering would primarily lead customers to upgrade existing systems or purchase new hardware.

According to Meintzer, the product is differentiated by its ability to address threats from both outside and inside an organization, including data-loss-prevention capabilities for applications, Model Context Protocol server protections and the ability to identify shadow AI. He said competitors may need to rely on secondary technologies or virtual instances to provide similar capabilities, while some may not offer them within their products.

“It’s brand new, so we’ll have to see how the adoption goes,” Meintzer said.

Platform Strategy, Subscription Revenue and M&A

Check Point continues to position itself as a platform provider but is pursuing an “Open Garden” approach rather than requiring customers to standardize exclusively on its products, Meintzer said. He cited the company’s continuous threat exposure management, or CTEM, offering and its Veriti acquisition, which provides virtual patching for more than 70 competing products.

Meintzer said the strategy allows Check Point to help secure a customer’s broader environment even when that environment includes competitors’ technologies. He described CTEM as the company’s fastest-growing product, while noting that it remains relatively small compared with the company’s overall business.

On subscription revenue, Meintzer said growth could flatten temporarily because of pressure on attached services before accelerating again. He said unattached subscriptions, which include SASE, CTEM, endpoint, Avanan, Workspace and AI-related offerings, represent more than 30% of subscription revenue and could eventually account for 50% of that line.

He said Check Point’s SASE product is “enterprise ready” and is continuing to improve. The company expects the offering could begin to make a greater difference in the coming year.

Meintzer also said Check Point has the cash and appetite to pursue a larger acquisition, though it will not force a transaction. Any acquisition would need to make strategic sense and improve the company’s offerings. He said mergers and acquisitions are not essential to reaching the company’s double-digit growth objective, but could accelerate progress toward that goal.

Ultimately, Meintzer said the company’s growth ambitions depend primarily on go-to-market execution, including sales and marketing. He also said AI-driven capacity needs and Check Point’s differentiated offerings could support an accelerated refresh cycle in the future.

Meintzer highlighted Maestro as another differentiator, particularly for large-capacity networks. He said the product is frequently discussed by customers and is well suited to high-end deployments, including neocloud environments.

About Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ:CHKP)

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. is an Israeli-founded cybersecurity company that develops, markets and supports a broad portfolio of network, cloud and endpoint security products. Founded in 1993, the company was an early pioneer of stateful inspection firewall technology and later developed a modular “software blade” approach that allowed customers to combine protection capabilities. Check Point's product set spans physical and virtual security appliances, software and cloud-native services designed to prevent cyberattacks, protect data and simplify security management for enterprises and service providers.

Key product families include Quantum Security Gateways (on-premises and hybrid appliances), CloudGuard (cloud security posture and workload protection), Harmony (endpoint, remote access and unified endpoint security), and SandBlast (advanced threat prevention and sandboxing).

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